Hi, Stuart Talley here to do a quick update on the DePuy Pinnacle trial. We received word from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals (COA) on various petitions that DePuy had filed in an effort to up-end the current trial that is set to start opening statements on Monday, October 3rd.

The COA rejected all of DePuy's arguments and efforts to basically stay the litigation pending their appeals. DePuy made arguments that there was no jurisdiction in the Texas court for people that resided in California. They also made some arguments that consolidating the case was unfair and the speed at which the trial was going to commence was unfair; that they didn't have enough time to get ready. All these arguments were denied by the COA and opening statements will begin as scheduled.

This is good news for the plaintiffs. Stay tuned. We will provide regular updates on how the trial progresses .

Hi, this is Stuart Talley here to provide another update on the ongoing DePuy Pinnacle hip trial occurring in Dallas, Texas. Yesterday, a prospective jury was brought in. Today, there is jury selection.

Yesterday, we were also met with complaints and filings that Johnson & Johnson (J&J) made with the Court of Appeals (COA) to try and get the trial derailed. The first motion they filed with the appellate court was one again objecting to the consolidation of six cases for trial. If you have been watching my videos, you will know that this trial is for six individual plaintiffs all of whom live in California. It will be tried in front of one jury. The defendants are complaining and asserting that this is not fair.

The second motion they filed with the appellate court was a last second motion to contest personal jurisdiction. They are arguing that the court in Texas does not have jurisdiction to even hear the trial. This is a new argument that has not been made previously. I think it is a long shot of having any chance with the appellate court.

So, those were the motions that J&J filed with the appellate court. I do not expect those to go anywhere. The judge is moving forward with the trial. He entered an order yesterday indicating that each side in this trial will only have 70 hours to put on their case. This is an effort to streamline the process to get both the plaintiffs and defendants to determine exactly what types of evidence they want to get into the case, in front of the jury, and to streamline the process so future trials go quicker.

70 hours is still a significant period of time. With 70 hours of testimony and cross examination, you are looking at about 3 weeks of trial. 3 weeks on each side is a 6 week trial. It is substantially shorter than the previous trials which lasted months. But it is still a substantial effort to put on these cases.The judge allowed live testimony by satellite broadcast which is helpful to the plaintiffs. So, there are some witnesses who live in other states; a lot of them live in California. Their testimony will be presented by Skype, or whichever software. But there will be live video testimony in the court with direct and cross examination of the witness in some other location. This is helpful for the plaintiffs because many witnesses are out of state.

The trial is moving forward. Jury selection is today. Today, they will actually pick the jury. Stay tuned, we will keep you updated. Hopefully, we will have opening arguments tomorrow. I will provide an update on what occurs.

If you have a Pinnacle hip, and have any questions, you can always call us or fill out our online form.

Hi, this is Stuart Talley here to provide another update on the ongoing DePuy Pinnacle hip trial. If you have been following our videos, you know that there is an upcoming trial starting on September 26 for a group of six California plaintiffs.

Ever since the trial date was set by the trial court, the defendants have gone to extraordinary lengths to try and get the trial date pushed off. They have made arguments before the trial court that it is impossible for them to conduct the amount of discovery necessary for them to get the cases ready for trial between now and the end of September. The trial court denied those requests to get the trial date moved.

We had an order that came out on September 1 where the trial court indicated the trial date would not be moved. It was indicated that the defendants had waited too long to begin seeking medical records and discovery from the six plaintiffs selected for that trial. As a result, if there was any prejudice to them it was caused by their own delay in action.

The defendants have now gone to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to request that they move the trial date. We do not yet have a decision from the Fifth Circuit. But what’s important to know regarding the scheduling of trials, coordinating discovery, the trial court has a huge amount of discretion. It would be highly unusual for an appellate court to overturn the decision of a trial court with respect to scheduling of trials, discovery and depositions.

I do not expect that this trial is going to be moved. The fact that the defendant keeps filing motion after motion to get it delay, stayed or moved, is a good sign for the plaintiffs. It shows the defendants are very concerned with the next group of plaintiffs.​If you have a DePuy Pinnacle or questions about the litigation, please feel free to give us a call.

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